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Reliving the AFC Championship

And fret not, we're not reliving those OTHER AFC Championships. We're reliving the one that we won (homophones FTW).

[Pre-Game...]

Let's just say that I was already anticipating having something new to hang up there.

Just as a little warning to any potential Colts-game n00bs... these stairs are dangerous as HELL once they get all beer-slicked and grimey. People fell down at least four times (me accounting for 1 and 1/2 of them--caught myself on the railing once).

GET EM WAVIN!!

Classic. This guy was fierce. I thought he was gonna pick a fight before everything was said and done.

Rolling it back up... unexciting, I know... but just an excuse for me to let another shot of our troops in there.

THIS is how the steps get so nasty in the first place! Would it kill Miller co. to put some kind of cap on these things? (Or is that too unmanly)? Or just not fill the cups to the absolute brim? Seriously, this one little blond-haired girl took a nasty spill on these cement *****es about midway through the 2nd. She could have really been hurt. Really. I'm calling for a stair boycott.
Another thing that ticked me off: A Pats fan should be able to walk up to his seat without getting harrased. The guy with the NE SUCKS! towel practically threatened to kill him (screaming; throat-slash hand-gesture). This guy took it in stride though: he took off his cap and shoved the SUPERBOWL CHAMPS XXVIII2.34569piWHATEVER insignia in the guy's face.A better shot. The other one had the sparks though.
THEY'RE WAVING.
ROCKETMAN 696. Coolest beer man ever, hands down. And also the most adept pourer you'll see in pro sports. Perfect form, zero palsy or tremor in the hands, a space-saving and crowd-friendly way of hunkering down, a sort of blinding transaction speed that just screamed Yeah, I'm just that damn good, and of course a wake-the-dead bellow (essential). Didn't spill a drop. (The guy sitting behind my brother, however... well let's just say that my brother may have worn more than that guy drank.)

And of course ROCKETMAN 696 was witty as hell in that way that the best beermen are. (A pudgier, whiter beerman tried to intrude upon his turf once. He promptly got booed the hell out. Us beerfolk are loyal to our beermen. Hell, I don't even drink beer, and I'm loyal to the beerman.)

[POST-PRE-GAME, BUT NOT QUITE DURING-GAME, OR VERY MUCH OF IT ANYWAY... ]

Coin-flippin'
At this point I'm thinking: God, this is really going to be it. We're actually going to pull it off. I feel it. Hell, I saw it [explained later]. C'mon, Colts...
I'm pretty sure that this is the first play of the game. I was too giddy to take pictures during much of the actual game. (Sorry)
Before the comeback, and before the 21-3, there was... this play Da Fans

Bravest Colts fan EVER.This is a key play of some sort, but not really sure of when. It might have been when we tied it up. Can anyone help me out here? I'm not even sure when this was or anything.
The only picture I took while we were down, right after the pick 6. Everyone knew what everyone was thinking. You didn't even have to think it and you were thinking it.

(But, going into halftime with one FG tacked to our score, hope sprung anew: everybody started saying "Hey, we're only [x] scores behind..." which then gradually turned into a more declarative "Hey, we're only [x] scores behind." And then finally the exclamatory "HEY, we're only [X] SCORES BEHIND!" and the clapping and the cheering and the sense that we were going to actually win this ******* thing.)

(They started The Wave at some point during the comeback, and I was so taken by the moment that I ceded to the cheesiness and enjoyed The Wave like I haven't enjoyed The Wave since I was a pre-teen years ago when a fully pubescent and much cooler boy told me that The Wave wasn't 'in' anymore. That actually it was quite dorky.)

[POST-GAME, I.E., COLTS FAN EUPHORIA, THE MOMENT WE HOPE FOR EVERY YEAR BUT KNOW DEEP DOWN IN OUR HEARTS AND BRAINS {AND SOMETIMES OTHER VITAL ORGANS?} JUST AIN'T COMIN {ESPECIALLY SIR SHADE}... ]

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS FTW! FTW! ?

It's hard to take a good picture when your feet are very rarely on the ground.
I'm not even sure what happened here. It's like I took a shot of the mental image of every Colts fan everywhere. Pure, blinding white. And you're finally a part of it for once.
Hi-fives were had by all (that's what he's doing).
Scoreboard. (I tried)

The streets, exiting the game... never been prouder to be stuck shoulder-to-shoulder in a giant mass of urbanites, honestly.

One last snap of the Dome....

BTW, remember that "I saw it" comment? This was taken pre-game, as I was getting ready to enter the dome:

Re: Reliving the AFC Championship

Bump. (I went and posted, doh) I wanted this bumped (on the front PD mainpage) so everyone might hopefully see the pics in the morning. I had been meaning to share the pics with you guys. I know they're not great quality, but it's all in good fun.

Re: Reliving the AFC Championship

Great pics, Soup. Thanks for posting.

That was an unbelivable night. After all the heartbreak we've had. Me and my buddy lucked into a couple of tickets. That was the first game I had seen in person of the Manning era. Hadn't been since I was little in 1997.

Re: Reliving the AFC Championship

Thanks for bringing us closer to what was maybe the defining moment in Indy sports, when we were allowed to believe our lives wouldn't forever be mired in sports frustration. The pic with the guy with blue hair flying up in the midst of the white electric light looks like you captured some sort of cosmic occurrence.

Re: Reliving the AFC Championship

That crazy ******* with the towel, wow. Although I can't say I mind it too much after some guy made the mistake of picking a fight with my Dad during the 1995 AFC championship at Pittsburgh. My Dad isn't a small guy and only sent the guy to the ground because he was forced to defend himself. Colts fans are usually some of the most classy to opposing fans.